Buhari directs NDDC to pay stranded students abroad

By our reporter| President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to pay the fees and stipends of scholars of the commission who stranded abroad.

The Director of Corporate Affairs at the NDDC, Charles Odili, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

This followed a protest by the students recently in the United Kingdom who called on the President to intervene in the matter.

“Senator Akpabio, the Honourable Minister, said President Buhari who has been briefed on the protest by students at the Nigerian High Commission in London, has ordered that all stops be pulled to pay the students by the end of this week,” the statement read.

Odili who explained that the delay in remittance of the fees of the scholars was caused by the sudden death of the then acting Executive Director of Finance and Administration (EDFA), Ibanga Etang, in May, said the stipends would be paid by the end of the week.

He said, “Under the commission’s finance protocol, only the Executive Director (Finance) and the Executive Director (Projects) can sign for the release of funds from the commission’s domiciliary accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

“With the death of Chief Etang, the remittance has to await the appointment of a new EDFA. We expect a new EDFA to be appointed this week. As soon as that is done, they would all be paid.”